A web service is a method of communication between two electronic devices over a network. Web services may include a software system designed to support interoperable machine-to-machine interaction over a network using an interface described in a machine-processable format. Web services are commonly used by groups of people, systems, and individuals needing access to documents, files, and data. These web services can involve content management and document management systems. Web services are widely varied, and allow for management and provisioning of intranet portals, extranets, websites, document and file management, collaboration spaces, social tools, enterprise search, business intelligence, process integration, system integration, workflow automation, and core infrastructures for business solutions. Web services can also provide financial data, data processing, data storage, and/or the like.
Because web services usually use an interface to describe a communication format, individuals and/or computer systems that interface with web services may need to tailor client-side software according to the interface. However, problems may arise when server-side web services change their interface. During subsequent communication sessions, the client-side software may no longer work with the new interface. The client-side software may need to be redesigned to interact with the new interface, which can cost a prohibitive amount of time, resources, and money.